The Story of James Rithler
by Schnyder
Summary: James Rithler is a high society man who needs to find a way out of Rapture and finds out some interesting secrets. Takes place before bioshock 1. Please review if you don't mind if only so that i know people read it. Capter four is up, so enjoy
1. Chapter 1

_Ah Praise be to Rapture and all its glory, yeah sure it's a free market with no laws but once you do something to piss the big man off you get whisked away by Ryan's goons. O well guess that's life in ol' Rapture…_

"So where might you fine gentlemen be taking me?" Rithler said with a smirk on his face. James Rithler always had that domineer about him, arrogance. He felt he had earned it though being one of the first people to move down to Rapture and one of the few who gained profit from his move. Rithler lived at the top of the Neptune High-rise a 100 story apartment complex that catered to the upper class of Rapture.

"Ryan's gotta problem with how you're doing things, says you're ruinin' Rapture and we frankly agree." It should be stated here that James Rithler is not exactly like by many people, if any at all. "so, Ryan be seein' it fit to make you into one of them Big Daddy folk." At the James's smirk faded and his face filled with horror. Although, these working men didn't know quite what it meant to be turned into a Big Daddy James, through gossip from the upper class, did. "N-Now hold on guys you can't be serious!" James exclaimed while now trying to slow down the group of men and try and talk them into letting him go. That's what Rithler did well, talk. In fact he probably did that better than any man in all of Rapture.

"Ok guys, what's Ryan paying you all? I'll double…no Triple it!" at this all four men started laughing. "He ain't giving us money." said the man in the front right "yeah, he's givin' us ADAM" said the man to the left of James. At that all the men started laughing and Rithler became more concerned, not only because they were coming closer and closer to the bathysphere station but because he had nothing to offer these men. There were a lot of things Rithler loved about Rapture, the technology, the people, the architecture, but then there was ADAM something he hated more than the devil himself. In his opinion it was all bad news. He knew that ever so slowly it was turning the city into freaks. He reckoned there was only about 20% only normal people left. Hell, he could barely call the men taking him to the bathysphere men, they were splicers.

"Listen, I can't give you ADAM but I helped build Rapture, I was one of the first peopl…" "ehh, quite your bitchin' we're giving you up to Ryan and that's it boyo." Just as the leadhead said this a little sister came out of the shopping mall area connecting the long glass hallway. "Look," said one of the splicers "she all alone no Tin Daddy to help her!" at this he let out a distorted cackle and all of them went to take the little sister's ADAM.

_ Now, I feel sorry for that but this might be my only chance to get out of here. I can't be turned into one of those monstrosities. _No sooner had Rithler thought this than a Big Daddy appeared to protect his little sister. The Big Daddy Lunged at the splicer closest to the little girl ramming him against the glass wall. Unfortunately this being an older part of Rapture the glass began to break. The remaining splicers, the Big Daddy along with little sister, and Rithler all scattered as the hallway began to collapse. Rithler made it on the other side of the secure-door right before it closed, leaving the hallway flooding and separating him from his captors. _That was a serious stroke of luck. Now I just got to find something to defend myself with and_ _get back to my flat from there is should be able to get a hold of Nicole she has that submarine and I figure it's time to get out of Rapture._


	2. Chapter 2

_Jesus Christ! It feels like I've been walking for hour._ James Rithler had actually only been walking for about 40 minutes but time doesn't exactly fly by when you've been walking down a winding hallway for almost an hour and hadn't passed a single doorway. _Where the hell am I? I didn't even know there were tunnels this long in Rapture!_ "HELLO!"Rithler yelled out of frustration. After 30 more minutes of walking Rithler finally comes upon a door. _Thank God! That damned hall went on forever._"O COME ON! WHAT THE HELL!" shouted Rithler as he approached the door and found that it was broken and wouldn't open. Rithler sat down against the door wondering how he was going to get out of the glass tunnel.

After sitting against the door for a few moments it opened, confused Rithler turned around to spot light being shined in his eyes, he quickly tired to shade his eyes to see beyond the light as a voice called out "who's down there? I ave' a gun and I shoot!" _Great another freaking psych! _"Name's Rithler, James Rithler" Rithler told the voice, which he thought sounded female. "What are you doing here?" shouted the voice "Just looking for a way out of that tunnel" Rithler replied as he pointed back at the now closed metal door. "Hmm you don't look like splicer." said the voice questioningly "That's cause I'm not one!" Rithler retorted "Hmm…"

The woman was about 5'6" only a few inches shorter than Rithler with dark hair, blue eyes, a skinny frame and a Russian accent to top it all off. After a few moments of determining if Rithler was a threat or not, and determining the latter, she descended the staircase down to him and introduced herself. "Elsinta Baskov" She said as she reached the bottom of the stairs and shook hands with Rithler. "It is so good to find someone who is not splicer." "Yeah I get that," Rithler said also in a state of relief "so what exactly is this place?" Elsinta had to think about what she was going to say before she said it "it is…the hotel…uhh backdoor." Rithler was puzzled for a moment because hotels don't really have backdoors so he assumed it was an employee's entrance. "You happen to know what hotel this is?" Rithler asked "It is Sinclair Deluxe" Elsinta said in her Russian dialect. _Ah shit the Sinclair is about as far away from my flat as I can get from my flat, not only that but people round here don't act to kindly to the upper class folks I gotta be careful about what I say to these people._

"Here. You may need this" Elsinta tossed Rithler a double barreled sawn-off shotgun "won't you need this?" Rithler asked as she was riffling through a storage crate. "No," she said "cause I have this" she showed Rithler a Thompson with a drum clip and upgraded damage and recoil system. "Well holy shit, we have ourselves a regular Russian gangster" he said sarcastically as she loaded the gun "so what are you waiting for we are going now." She said sternly while walking out the door

Rithler and Elsinta were walking down the leaky, decrepit halls of the Sinclair when a thought came to Rithler and made him stop in his tracks. "Hey, hold up sister, where are you taking me?" "I am not taking you anywhere," she said with a sort of confused look on her face "we are looking for supply." "Sorry, but I have my own things to do lady."Rithler starts walking again following a sign that says "lobby" and has an arrow point down the hall. He turns the corner still following the signs, Elsinta is stuck standing there not knowing what to do because she hasn't had any real human contact in weeks. She starts running to catch up with Rithler "what is this job you have to do?" Rithler hesitated, _I don't really want to tell anyone about this submarine cause I don't want it to be gone before I leave Rapture but at the same time she's who's going to tell?_ "I have to get back to my flat and the too my friend's because she might have a way to get out of here." "Way out of Rapture you mean?" she asked enthusiastically "you are taking me with you!" "I know, if I wasn't going to take you with me, then I wouldn't have told you any of this." he said "good then we are partners then, I supply the guns you get us way out of Rapture." Elsinta said with a smile. _Great, partners what's going to happen if I can't keep up my end of the bargain, or if I do?_


	3. Chapter 3

"The way out of the hotel is just over there." Elsinta whispered to Rithler as the crouched behind some boxes. "Well? Why don't we just walk out?"Rithler asked is a manner that made his impatience very clear. They had already had to fight their way through dozens of splicers so far and he was getting sick of it. "You want to die by just running out there? Go ahead be guest!" Elsinta said in an irritated voice. "Ok so what do you think we should do?" Rithler asked now a little calmed down. "We need to clear the upper floors so no splicer shoots us from above and then we should be good to leave" she said all the while looking for an easier way up besides the staircase across the wide open lobby. After finding no alternative route Elsinta turned to Rithler "You must go to staircase across the lobby and clear upstairs alone." _Is she God damn crazy! There's no way in hell that I'm running across a lobby with no cover then clearing three floors of splicers by myself. _"Listen lady there ain't no way in hell you can get me to go up there alone!" "Then we must find you means of protection or other way around" Elsinta said starting to back track. Rithler took one last look at the lobby. _Damn dame's going to get me killed._

"Here's a good spot" Elsinta said after almost two hours of searching. She was pointing to a hole in the floor above_._ "And how am I supposed to get up there?" Rithler asked "ughh do I have to point everything out for you? Push that dresser under the hole and jump up" Elsinta said actually indicating a cabinet. Rithler walked over and started to push the cabinet "you know…you got…a funny way… of dealing…with things..!Ah there we go" He climbed on top of the furniture piece and offered his hand down to Elsinta. "Or maybe" she said as she was being pulled up "you are not looking at things the right way." They both climbed through the hole and found themselves in one of the residential rooms of the hotel. Rithler went to check the bedroom while Elsinta went into the kitchen.

_Jesus this place gives me the creeps…not that any place in Rapture now a days is a dream but this place just has an eerie silence to it._ Just at the moment "James! JAMES!" Rithler rushed through the door and around the corner where the kitchen was to see a Splicer pinning Elsinta down with a pipe trying to crush her neck. "HEY!" Rithler thrust kicked the splicer right in the jaw which sent him a few feet away and dazed. Elsinta got up quickly and stood right next to Rithler reloading her Thompson. While the splicer was still on the ground Rithler took out his sawn-off and took a shot at the splicer. It hit him straight in the chest but only served to sober him up at that moment his disappeared in a blood red cloud of smoke. "Shit, are you alright!?" Rithler asked while looking around the corner to see where the splicer had gone. "Yes, I am thinking so" Elsinta said to distraught to worry about using functional English. "We need to find that son of a bitch before he gets the drop on us again." Rithler said still looking for the splicer throughout the room. Rithler turned to say something Elsinta but she quickly pointed behind him "There!" Rithler turned around just in time to see the crimson cloud condense. The Splicer appeared and tackled Rithler against the wall. Kneeling over him, the veins in the splicer's hands began to glow red which soon spread to the rest of his hands as they erupted in to flames. Rither could feel the heat coming from them as the splicer when to grab his face, but just as his face and the splicer's hands were about to touch the splicer was knocked of him by the stock of Elsinta's Thompson. While the splicer was getting up Elsinta took aim and shot him up with a few dozen rounds.

"Damn, little lady," Rithler said as he was getting up while Elsinta was standing over the now dead splicer "you sure do pack a punch." "Well, I do have the Sport Boost," Elsinta said, now facing Rithler and in an obvious tone. "I think it is time for you to get plasmid as well…"


	4. Chapter 4

_ Well, here I am in front of one of these Gatherer's Garden machines; these things always give me the creeps. They sell these plasmids and act like the little sisters are still human, make me sick to my stomach. But yet, here I am with my Russian friend about to sell my humanity for a better chance of living..._

"James? James?! JAMES!" Elsinta shouted even though Rithler was right next to her "Which one are you going to pick? We don't have a whole day." "Yeah, yeah I got you but let me ask you something," Rithler said finally ready to ask something that had been on his mind "you said you use that Sport Boost tonic, why aren't you deformed and crazy like most of this hell hole?" "You only look spliced up if you splice with the hardcore Plasmids like the Electro-Bolt or Incinerate it will say if it will deform you or not, now buy your Plasmid already standing in one place is not go when splicers are about and that is all the ADAM I had left." She said half frustrated and half worried. Sure enough Rithler looked at each button and on some it said **Warning: May Cause Side-effects.** _Ha. Hardly a disclaimer._ So Rithler looked at which didn't cause side effects by the time he was done looking 4 out of 12 wouldn't deform him. _Hmm kind of a skimpy selection, Telekinesis, Solid Fist, Sport Boost, and Sonic Boom. Well Telekinesis would be most useful I guess. _Rithler pushed the button labeled Telekinesis, the machine started to make clunking noises as the gears inside popped into place and started to turn. The speaker located in the gigantic little sister's mouth began to produce white noise then crackle then a voice came on. _**"Hello! And thank you for purchasing the Solid Fist Plasmid" **_"What!? No that's not what I pushed" Rithler exclaimed while kicking the machine. A red jar came out of the machine accompanied with an empty hypo. "Do you have any idea what this plasmid does?" Rithler asked Elsinta wanting to know exactly what it would do to him before he injected himself. "No, that is very old Plasmid. I am surprised this machine even sells that old of Plasmid." This made Rithler extremely nervous. He was an early comer to Rapture and, although he didn't follow what Plasmids were being developed, he knew how these older plasmids could make you awfully deformed and crazy. But the machine had said no side-effects. So he filled the hypo with the Plasmid. _Well I guess this is it._ He plunged the needle into his right wrist.

_Nothing? I thought this was painful, can plasmids expire?_ But right at that moment a pain hit him like a shockwave. Rithler fell and hit the tiled floor head first, knocking him out cold. "James, get up!" Elsinta said helping him to his feet "now is time to leave this hotel for good." This motivated Rithler to get up fast and try to stand up on his own, but as soon as he let go of Elsinta he feel over. _I feel fine why the hell can't I stand! _"James you have to concentrate, it won't run back on its own." Rithler then realized what had brought him down. He looked at his right hand, which was now solid metal. "What the hell is this?!" Rithler started screaming "This looks like a pretty big deformity!" "CALM DOWN!" Elsinta scream, enraged by this point "Just clam down and concentrate on turning it back to normal. You can turn it off and on." So James, a little afraid at this point, got up, got his balance and focused. Sure enough the 15 pound fist on his right arm turned back to regular flesh and bone. Rithler takes a deep breath "Alright…let's get out of here."

Back in the same hallway they were in a few hours ago, Rithler and Elsinta are hiding behind a corner looking into the lobby which is a straight dash to the exit. "Those two splicers are the only thing in our way" Elsinta said while cocking her Thompson "I will take the one on the left you take…" Rithler had grabbed the front of her gun and gently lower it. "Hold on, let me try this out" Rithler said while turning his fist into Iron. He began running towards the first splicer. The splicer turned right as Rithler got close enough to him, Rithler threw a haymaker, right hook straight to the splicer's temple forcing his head to jerk around and snap his neck. The other splicer jumped of Rithler back chocking him from behind. Rithler turned his hand back to normal and backed up to slam the splicer against a wall. She let go instantly and fell to the floor. Rithler unhooked the shot gun from his belt and shot the splicer point blank.

"Ok, Mr. Macho can we be going now?" Elsinta said irritated with Rithler decision to leave her out of the fight. "Yeah," Rithler said looking at his hand almost captivated "let's get out of here." While walking out the main Securis door leading out of the hotel Elsinta and Rithler were talking. Suddenly Elsinta stops in her tracks. Rithler, looking at her says "You forget something or something?" Elsinta points and Rithler turns finding himself face to face with the biggest splicer he has ever seen…


	5. Chapter 5

_Shit!_ That was all Rithler could think as he flew through the air shooting at the beast coming after him. *CRASH!* Rithler had hit the Securis door at the end of the hallway. As his vision came back into focus he could see the huge splicer coming towards him. Rithler stumbled to his feet and ran towards the splicer. He got up right next to it and initiated his Solid Fist plasmid. He upper cut the brutish splicer right in the gut, which on any normal splicer would break his rib cage and send him a few feet into the air but this was not one. The Splicer just sat there and roared a deep laugh "puny man should try more tonic before trying to taking on Howell." He then picked Rithler up in a bear hug and started to crush him. _Great now I'm going to die in this hell hole, crushed to death by some freakish goon. _"Hey brute!" Elsinta had appeared from around the corner of the hallway with a grenade launcher. She shot to grenades in quick succession and hit the brute directly in the back. As they hit the splicer, Rithler felt the flames from the explosion lick his face. Then all he could see was dark black smoke as the brute splicer.

"Come on!" Rithler heard Elsinta say as she grabbed him and pulled him through the, now open, Securis doorway. As they went through they heard a roar of anger from inside the cloud of smoke still lingering in the hallway. Rithler re-initiated his Solid Fist plasmid and smashed the control panel to the Securis. "The hell was that thing!?" Rithler asked with his hands on his knees catching his breath. "I was a brute splicer; they get all these tonics and inject them all in one time." Elsinta explained a little less out of breath since she hadn't been almost squeezed to death. "And where did you find that?" Rithler asked referencing the homemade looking grenade launcher. "At the Power to the People station, they are all over this district. And by the looks of it you need one." She said pointing at Rithler shotgun because the barrels had been crushed during the fight. "Come on, there is one in the Fishbowl Diner" Elsinta said while walking down to the other Securis at the end of the tunnel.

They came to the front of the diner and pried the doors open. They both saw the Power to the People station at the back part of the diner but what they saw to their right was a sight so confusing that they both had to ask each other if it was real. It was a brute splicer, or at least it seemed to be one, sitting at a table reading a book and drinking a cup of hot tea. As they slowly moved closer to the brute with weapons and plasmids drawn he suddenly looked up and was startled. "O! hello," he said in a Scottish accent "What might you be doing in my diner?" as it turned out he wasn't a Brute splicer but rather was just the size of one. "uhh," Rithler had to think about what to say next because apart from the splicer he had never seen a man this big in his life. "we were in a uh fight and my gun broke and we were looking for uh a Power to the People station." "Ah yes, well, the one over there is functional but I do believe al it has left in it is a pistol." The big Scotsman said pointing to it with a hot dog sized index finger. "Thank you" Rithler said careful not to offend the big man. After they got the pistol and were about to leave. Rithler felt sorry for the man just sitting in a rundown diner and ask him if he'd want to come with them to the submarine. "No, no I'm fine here" He said "Rapture never gave up on me so I'm not going to give up on her." So with that Rithler, with his new pistol, and Elsinta set of out of pauper's drop where they would head to Fort Frolic, which was connected to both the Atlantic Express and a bathysphere station so they could make it to The Neptune High-Rise and consequently to the surface.


End file.
